Opinion
A4
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
OUR VIEW
Compromise
key to reaching
shared goals
ooperation between diff erent stakeholders
and groups with contrasting ideologies
is all too often an unmet goal, but the
recent news that the Upper Grande Ronde Water-
shed Partnership Place-Based Integrated Water
Resources Plan was recognized by the state
shows what success can be if patrons with dif-
ferent views work together.
The plan, at least six years in the making,
essentially tackles the thorny problem of meeting
the water needs of the region in the Upper
Grande Ronde Basin. The blueprint furnishes
a number of innovative ideas — from utilizing
aboveground storage to widening sections of
specifi c waterways.
The important element of the plan and its ideas
is they would all be executed within existing
environmental laws. There will be no rush to
build dams or throw up reservoirs or damage
streambanks. Instead, the plan will be used as a
foundation for a viable, and methodical approach
to water availability in the future.
The plan is also notable because of the way it
was designed. A host of diff erent agencies and
groups — from the Union County Farm Bureau
to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation to area farmers and ranchers — gave
input on it.
That type of cooperation should be a template
for the future, not just in Union County but across
the state and beyond.
The idea to bring a diverse group of people
with varying and competing interests together
to iron out a plan that focuses on the environ-
ment isn’t new, but it isn’t always successful.
The watershed partnership is a visible example
of everyone managing to work together toward a
common goal.
Something similar occurred in nearby Malheur
County where U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden,
D-Oregon, worked with a coalition of conser-
vations and ranchers and residents to create a
framework to safeguard the Owyhee Canyon-
lands. Wyden’s eff ort showed ideological diff er-
ences can be put aside to create a compromise
over a highly contested environmental issue.
Compromise means not everyone gets exactly
what they want, as is and was the case in
southern Malheur County, but the Canyonlands
plan and the Upper Grande Ronde Watershed
blueprint should be in the front of the environ-
mental management playbook going forward.
Both plans show that we can, indeed, work
together to reach a goal that does what we all
want — manage our natural resources in a
responsible manner.
C
EDITORIALS
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opinions of the authors and not
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YOUR VIEWS
Voting no on May school
bond will hurt kids,
community
I am a local business owner who
has been in La Grande since 2000.
I fully support and will vote Yes for
Bond 31-105, which would allow
the school district to build a new
multi-use building. There is a ton
of misinformation fl oating around
about this bond. It will not raise your
taxes and a No vote will only hurt
our kids and the community.
I did not support the mandatory
masks for the kids, and I did not agree
with the way the board and super-
intendent dealt with COVID issues,
but the bond is separate from that. I
have two kids, one in the new Central
school and one in the middle school,
and they use the Annex often. This
building must be replaced, and this
bond gives us the ability to do that.
This new building will greatly
increase sports, recreation and
events in a way that we don’t have
the ability to do now. The new
building will also address ADA
accessibility, which the current
Annex does not provide.
Paul Swigert
La Grande
School bond will improve
handicap accessibility
When I suddenly found myself
in a wheelchair, my perspective
on many things in life changed. I
suppose I was peripherally aware
of handicap access, but now it is a
daily need. As a whole our commu-
nity is probably not much diff erent
from other rural communities,
developed before access for people
with disabilities was considered.
So, we have streets without side-
walks, sidewalks without curb
cuts, businesses with steps at the
front door. And, we have old school
buildings that are not accessible.
Retrofi tting to accommodate all
these needs is expensive and takes
a lot of planning.
I serve on the La Grande Traffi c,
Streets and Sidewalks committee
with an eye toward improving
streets, sidewalks and handicap
access. We have developed a long-
range plan for this work.
I am a retired educator, former
principal at Central Elementary
School, and I now serve on the
La Grande School Board. The
work of the board is diverse but
focused on providing the best edu-
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. PRESIDENT
Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
U.S. SENATORS
Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande offi ce: 541-962-7691
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-376
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us
Cliff Bentz
2185 Rayburn House Offi ce Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
Medford offi ce: 541-776-4646
STATE SENATOR
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-415
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us
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cation we can for the kids. Facil-
ities play a role in this work. We
have some really nice buildings,
some recently built and updated
thanks to a voter-passed bond.
They are fully accessible. We have
some really old buildings that we
still use such as the Annex up by
the Middle School. It is in need of
a major upgrade and it is not hand-
icap accessible. The school district
has conducted a facilities study
and found it to be less expensive to
replace the Annex than to fi x it.
In May a bond will be before
the voters that, if approved,
will allow the district to build a
replacement facility, one that will
better serve the needs of the stu-
dents and families and citizens
of our community. And it will
be handicap accessible! And, as
an added bonus, the bond will be
combined with a state grant and
our tax rates will not go up.
I urge you to study this bond
measure and vote “Yes.” As a hand-
icapped citizen of La Grande, I
look forward to being able to roll
into this wonderful new building
and watch our kids compete.
Bruce Kevan
La Grande
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